Loaiza could miss first regular-season start

Esteban Loaiza was scratched from today’s start with continued stiffness behind his right shoulder blade.

From Sporting Green staff writer Susan Slusser:

After a mostly uneventful spring, the news just keeps coming out of the A’s clubhouse this week.

Today’s highlights: Esteban Loaiza was scratched from today’s start with continued stiffness behind his right shoulder blade; he believes that he can make his start on Thursday, but manager Bob Geren said that the DL is a strong possibility. That’s because the A’s need to be covered in the event Loaiza’s shoulder stiffness doesn’t go away – a long man is going to be a must (Brad Halsey or Lenny DiNardo) and the team doesn’t want to part with Rule 5 reliever Jay Marshall.

So … Chad Gaudin will start today’s game at San Francisco – and the right-handed reliever is now officially a candidate to start in place of Loaiza on Thursday or Friday in Anaheim. (Halsey and DiNardo are the other possibilities). Gaudin will throw 60 or so pitches today, so he could be around 75 pitches or so were he to start against the Angels.

Then there’s infielder Todd Walker. The veteran was signed Friday and in the lineup at first Saturday. It’s pretty apparent he’ll be on the Opening Day roster. Asked what he knows about his roster status, Walker said he wouldn’t have flown from Phoenix for one game.

That means the A’s are likely to lose Erubiel Durazo. Durazo, the A’s former DH, has had a nice spring but he’s a non-roster player and he has an out in his contract if he doesn’t make the big-league club on Opening Day. He indicated on Saturday that he would take the out if he isn’t with the A’s in Seattle.

So the roster, which looked totally set just five days ago, is now back to pretty much decided – at least for now. The way things change around here, you never know, but at this point, Durazo looks like he’ll leave and outfielder Travis Buck probably will open the season at Triple-A Sacramento.